Seraph of Sorrow (44 page)

“I would assume someone talked to a reporter.”

“Obviously. Who?”

Clearly, Glorianna suspected him. He didn’t care. First of all, she was right: He had leaked the story, or as much as he knew, to a young reporter who had eaten it right up. Second, he felt people deserved to know, whatever this tyrant thought she could hide. Still, he saw no reason to make this easy. He scowled. “Most likely Lizzy Georges-Scales.”

The conversation deteriorated from there. First Glory goaded him about losing Wendy, then she fawned over Lizzy and the beast-girl, then she criticized his parenting, and then she came right out and accused him of leaking the Quadrivium story.

However, the conversation was not a total loss. He learned she didn’t know everything. Most of all, who the two last members of the Quadrivium were.

“I’ve already attempted to find out what I can about the Quadrivium,” he reminded her coldly. “I can’t find many people willing to talk to me about it.”

Her suggestion that she go out herself and find out more almost made him laugh. He offered his assistance—perhaps she’d like a list of students that he thought might know something?—but of course, she blew him off. Then he tried to bring up this new girl, Andi, and the fact that Amanda Sera was missing, but she interrupted him with more of her sarcasm.

“Do you need me to validate your parking?”

Part of him wanted to lose his temper, he couldn’t deny. Another part of him was glad she was being so obtuse. It made it easier to turn and walk out of her office.

Fine. Don’t ask for my help, old woman. Bottom line, I don’t want to help you anyway.

Over the next several days, Hank sought to pull together a small core of Winoka beaststalkers to agree on two things. The first would be easy: Dragons like the Scaleses were a problem in Winoka. The second argument was harder: Glory was not protecting the town. The problem was no Blacktooth had the reputation sufficient to overcome the aura surrounding the mayor. She had ruled this town for decades. He did not find many converts to his cause . . . until Sarah Sera tried to talk to the mayor about her missing Amanda.

“She wouldn’t tell me anything about the search, or if there’s even been one,” she spat into her linguini at dinner that night. “It’s been two weeks, and she doesn’t even seem to care!”

“Did she say anything about the Quadrivium or its plot?” he asked her.

Her fork twiddled some noodles. “No leads beyond the article.”

“What about this Andi—the new girl at the school?”

Sarah threw the food off the fork. “I didn’t even get to bring her up. Halfway through Glory’s speech about eight-legged freaks, she told me she had to get to the school. ‘I must meet with Jennifer Scales,’ she says, as if some lizard tramp is more important than my Amanda!”

“Jennifer Scales has always been more important to the mayor than Winoka’s people.”

Sarah tried to sound skeptical. “What can we do about it?”

With her help, Hank was quickly able to convince other beaststalkers to join their cause—first a middle-aged couple like Jim and Sarah who had lost a daughter to beasts, then a grizzled man in his forties Hank had seen wandering the streets of Winoka alone, then a single pregnant woman who carried a dagger outside her clothes, then a few twentysomething men who wore camouflage pants and dirty baseball hats.

They all met over a Thanksgiving dinner, which Sarah faithfully and beautifully prepared. The more food Sarah served them, the more able Hank was to convince them of the sickness growing in the heart of their beloved hometown. The Scales family was a virus, and Glorianna Seabright was a well-meaning, aging doctor with an outdated prescription.

The following night, they met again. There, one of the young men who worked for the city’s street maintenance crew passed on a tip that the mayor planned to close Winoka Bridge briefly the following night. No one knew why. She was tight-lipped about it to her staff, and Sarah and Hank quickly confirmed that no one else on the city council had heard about this.

“It’s a meeting,” Hank concluded.

“We don’t know that,” Jim Sera pointed out. “She could be doing anything.”

Hank gave a disdainful snort. “What, you think she’s repainting the girders?”

“Why pick such a public place?” the pregnant woman asked. “I mean, if it’s supposed to be a secret, why do it in plain sight over the Mississippi River?”

He thought about that. “Maybe the choice of location wasn’t hers. Maybe someone wants to talk out in the open, or wants an easy way to escape if things go wrong.”

“Who in Winoka would need to do that?” asked one of the younger men. “Is it that Scales family? They’re trying to pull one over on the mayor?” He turned to one of his friends. “I told you weeks ago, we should’ve gutted ’em when we had the chance.”

As much as Hank wanted to believe that the Scaleses were behind this meeting, he didn’t see the point of them insisting on the bridge.
If they were afraid of Winoka, they wouldn’t live in it!
“I don’t think it’s anyone living in Winoka. It must be someone outside.”

One of the other young men squinted. “How
outside
you mean, Mr. Blacktooth?”

He nodded. “Outside.”

This revelation caused a stir. “The mayor’s talking to our enemies?
Negotiating?!
”

Surveying the room, Hank knew he would have to play this carefully. Would anyone believe him if he told them about Eveningstar, or Glory’s prior knowledge of Jonathan Scales?

He started small. “Well, we’ve all read that story in the paper about the spiders. It sounds like they had something serious brewing. Glory’s sworn to protect this town, however she can. If she thought she could save us by meeting with them . . .”

“She’d sacrifice herself for us? But she can’t do that!” The pregnant woman stomped. “We can’t let her do that!” The rest of the room heartily agreed.

Hank was pleased to see this angle work so quickly. “Then we need to be there.”

“She won’t be happy,” Jim pointed out, glaring at Hank. “If she wanted us there, she’d have asked. She’ll take it as a sign we don’t trust her . . . or worse, that we think she’s weak.”

“I’m not suggesting interference. What the mayor does, she does with the best intentions. She does so much for us all. Why should she carry the burden alone? Why should we sit at home and depend upon her, time after time, to solve every problem? Don’t we owe her support?”

“We owe her obedience.”

“Jim, Hank isn’t saying we’ll disobey Glory,” Sarah argued. Her husband scowled. “He’s saying we have a responsibility to help.”

“Perhaps we could pull together a couple dozen folks,” Hank suggested. “No more than that. With good recon equipment, we should be able to observe what’s happening on the bridge. If she doesn’t need our help, we stay back. If things go wrong . . .”

“Then we save Glory!” the pregnant woman finished for him.

“Save Glory!” the middle-aged couple agreed.

The young men repeated, “Save Glory!”

Yes, let’s save Glory,
Hank thought with a mixture of satisfaction and irritation.
Let’s save her from her own foolishness. In the process, we might save ourselves.

Hank was alone in his own house the next morning, sharpening the edges of his favorite
oni
—a type of Japanese axe—when he heard a voice behind him.

“Dad?”

He was unsure whether to answer or wheel around swinging the
oni
. He decided to do neither. There was a small, dull flaw on the edge of one blade; he fixed his attention there.

“Dad, I need a bandage here or something . . .”

That got Hank to turn. His eyes grew wide at the sight of his own son’s blood, seeping down the boy’s forearm. “What happened?”

Eddie gave a lopsided smile. “Not much. I got into a fight with Mayor Seabright.”

“Mayor Seabright?!” Hank was up and examining the arm. “You
fought
her?”

“It was kind of one-sided. I didn’t have a weapon. She was getting on Mom’s case for siding with the Scales family, and Mom already felt bad because everything went to crap there, and when she called Mom a whore . . .”

“You stuck yourself in the middle,” Hank finished. He couldn’t help but feel pride.

“I couldn’t really go to the hospital, because of . . . well, you know who works there. And Mom didn’t feel right coming here after the argument you had. But she said I should come here, and you’d know what to do. She said you’re still my father, after all.”

“I am. Lift your arm.” Eddie did so, and Hank gauged the wound. It was not deep, but it would require attention. He found a first-aid kit and brought Eddie to the bathroom.

“Do you think it will need stitches?” Eddie asked, as Hank pulled back a flap of flesh.

“Possibly. So, tell me about the Scaleses.” He tried to sound casual.

“Ugh. Do I have to?” The boy’s face turned red.

“You’re still sweet on that . . . that . . .” He could only lick his lips in distaste.

“I don’t want to argue, Dad. Yeah, I guess I still feel for her. But it’s impossible to stay with them any longer. Jennifer’s dad isn’t an elder anymore, for reasons I don’t get. It’s a huge loss of face. They’re losing so many friends so fast in the Blaze, they’re suspicious of everyone—including me and Mom. It’s like they don’t even know who their real friends are.”

Hank wondered:
How would Dawn Farrier handle this delicate situation?

“I’m sorry they can’t see the value in you,” he finally settled upon.

Eddie narrowed his eyes. “That’s ironic coming from you, Dad.”

“This may sting . . .”

“Yeouch!”

Hank broke a long silence. “So what made Glory so angry she decided to cut you?”

“I called her an insecure, barren bitch who only found happiness at others’ expense.”

Hank chuckled despite himself. “You stole my line.”

“I’ve heard you say it once or twice. She came at me right away with her sword, and I tried to sidestep and deflect the blow downward, but I misjudged . . .”

“Don’t beat yourself up. If we are to believe the legend, surviving a blow from Mayor Seabright herself is an accomplishment.”

“Mom got me out of there okay. I’ve never seen her so angry.”

Yeah, well, maybe she’ll find a piece of jewelry to cram up Glory’s nose.
“Of course she was angry. You’re her son. Our son.”

Eddie gulped. “I’m sorry about the fight we had at the hospital, Dad.”

Of course you are. You have nowhere else to go.
“I am, too.”

“Do you think Glory will keep coming after me?”

Why bother?
“I’ve never known her to kill another beaststalker, or the child of one. Besides, she has more on her mind now than your insults.”

“What do you mean?”

Hank told him about Glory’s plan to meet someone, probably arachnid, on the bridge.

Eddie thought about that. “Skip Wilson?”

“Could be. What’s Skip been up to lately?”

“Suspended from school for ‘disrespect to the mayor.’ He doesn’t care for authority figures, so I don’t know how he gets from being suspended to asking for a meeting like this.”

“There may be others.” Hank bit his lip. “Some of us are going to observe this meeting, Eddie. We’re going to find out what the mayor’s up to. We’ll help her if she needs it—but she’s going to account for whatever she’s doing.”

“Wow. She’s going to be pissed at you for spying on her, I’ll bet.”

“Pissed at
us
, Eddie. You’re coming with me.”

His son sputtered. “Whoa. Dad, I’m not—I mean, I haven’t passed my rite—”

“You’ll pass it tonight. That’s when she’s meeting.”

“But I . . .” Eddie paused, and Hank watched the battle of emotions cross his son’s face.
Come on, Edward Blacktooth. Show your courage.
“But what about my arm?”

A fair question.
Hank assessed the cleaned wound. “You can still carry a weapon. You need stitches and antibiotics. More than what I have here. You’ll have to go to the hospital.”

“But Jennifer’s mom . . .”

He tried not to show too much impatience. “She’s not the only doctor in that place! Son, you’ve got to stiffen that spine. I’ll put a quick dressing on it, and that’s the last thing I’m doing for you. I’ve got preparations for tonight, and I can’t waste time coddling you. You’re going to stand up, walk out of here, get to the hospital, and get this taken care of. If you run into Dr. Georges-Scales,
you’ll deal with it
. If you run into Glory,
you’ll deal with it
. If you run into the entire damn Blaze,
you will deal with it
. You’ll get fixed, and you’ll report back here by 1600 hours. That will give us time to plan for tonight.”

Eddie swallowed hard.

“A boy’s got to be tough, to become a man, son.”

“Okay, Dad.”

Both of them exhaled, and then Hank began to wind a dressing around the large cut. Eddie really would be okay.
He’s lucky,
Hank told himself. And who knew? Maybe he would pass his rite of passage on the bridge tonight.
Maybe there’s hope for him, after all. It just took a hammer to the head for him to see it.

Everyone has to grow up sometime,
he mused as he sent the boy on his way. Eddie already seemed to walk taller as he stepped out of the house and faced the world, the way his father told him to.
Everyone has to show what they’re made of. I had to myself.
Eddie was in the car now, starting the engine.
I had to step up when my mother needed me. When she brought me to the mayor, and I got that assignment in Eveningstar. I did what I had to do. I had to find out what our enemy was up to. To do that, I had to stiffen my spine.
Eddie was pulling out of the driveway now, waving with his good arm.
I had to go the extra mile. I even injured myself, to fool my adversaries.
The car was in gear and roaring down the street, heading straight for Winoka Hospital.
They took me in, and I got the information I needed, and then I got . . .